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EyeRing finger-mounted connected cam captures signs and dollar bills, identifies them with OCR (hands-on)

Zach Honig — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:53:00 EST

Ready to swap that diamond for a finger-mounted camera with a built-in trigger and Bluetooth connectivity? If it could help identify otherwise indistinguishable objects, you might just consider it. The MIT Media Lab's EyeRing project was designed with an assistive focus in mind, helping visually disabled persons read signs or identify currency, for example, while also serving to assist children during the tedious process of learning to read. Instead of hunting for a grownup to translate text into speech, a young student could direct EyeRing at words on a page, hit the shutter release, and receive a verbal response from a Bluetooth-connected device, such as a smartphone or tablet. EyeRing could be useful for other individuals as well, serving as an ever-ready imaging device that enables you to capture pictures or documents with ease, transmitting them automatically to a smartphone, then on to a media sharing site or a server.

We peeked at EyeRing during our visit to the MIT Media Lab this week, and while the device is buggy at best in its current state, we can definitely see how it could fit into the lives of people unable to read posted signs, text on a page or the monetary value of a currency note. We had an opportunity to see several iterations of the device, which has come quite a long way in recent months, as you'll notice in the gallery below. The demo, which like many at the Lab includes a Samsung Epic 4G, transmits images from the ring to the smartphone, where text is highlighted and read aloud using a custom app. Snapping the text "ring," it took a dozen or so attempts before the rig correctly read the word aloud, but considering that we've seen much more accurate OCR implementations, it's reasonable to expect a more advanced version of the software to make its way out once the hardware is a bit more polished -- at this stage, EyeRing is more about the device itself, which had some issues of its own maintaining a link to the phone. You can get a feel for how the whole package works in the video after the break, which required quite a few takes before we were able to capture an accurate reading.

Gallery: MIT Media Lab: EyeRing

Continue reading EyeRing finger-mounted connected cam captures signs and dollar bills, identifies them with OCR (hands-on)

EyeRing finger-mounted connected cam captures signs and dollar bills, identifies them with OCR (hands-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T opens Watson API up to developers

Brian Heater — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 10:02:00 EST

Admit it, you don't have nearly enough opportunities to talk back to your phone. AT&T is giving you more. The company today announced that it will be offering its Watson real-time speech-to-text software to developers as APIs aimed at a number of different application types -- things like web search, question and answer apps and anything that uses AT&T's U-Verse TV services. A number of additional varieties are also in the works, including gaming and social media. Check out a cheery informational video after the break.

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AT&T opens Watson API up to developers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Apr 2012 10:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SpeechJammer gun gives loudmouths a dose of their own medicine to keep 'em quiet

Michael Gorman — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:56:00 EST

Silence is golden, so there are plenty of times when it'd be awfully convenient to mute those around us, and a couple of Japanese researchers have created a gadget that can do just that. Called the SpeechJammer, it's able to "disturb remote people's speech without any physical discomfort" by recording and replaying what you say a fraction of a second after you say it. Why would that shut up the chatty Cathy next to you? Delayed auditory feedback (DAF) is based on an established psychological principle that it's well-nigh impossible for folks to speak when their words are played back to them just after they've been uttered. SpeechJammer puts the power of DAF in a radar gun-style package that uses a directional mic and speaker, distance sensor and a trigger switch to turn it on, plus a laser pointer for targeting purposes -- so you simply point and shoot at your talkative target, and enjoy the silence that ensues. Piggy, your new conch has arrived, and this one can make Jack keep quiet.

SpeechJammer gun gives loudmouths a dose of their own medicine to keep 'em quiet originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft strikes deal with 24/7, promises to 'redefine' customer service

Donald Melanson — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:46:00 EST

A partnership between Microsoft and customer service company 24/7 may not exactly sound like the most exciting proposition on the face of things, but the two are making some fairly lofty promises, and Microsoft seems to be making a serious investment in the initiative. As ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley reports, part of the deal will see Microsoft send at least some of the 400 employees it brought on in its 2007 acquisition of TellMe Networks to 24/7, and it will also license some of its speech-related IP to the company (in addition to taking an equity stake in it). The goal there being to combine natural user interfaces with a cloud-based customer service platform, which Microsoft promises will "redefine what customer service looks like." To that end, it gives the example of a credit card company getting in touch with you to report suspicious behavior; rather than a phone call, you could get a notification with all the pertinent details sent directly to your phone, which could anticipate a number of potential actions and let you respond by voice (or touch, presumably). Unfortunately, while the two are talking plenty about the future of customer service, there's not a lot of word as to when that might arrive.

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Microsoft strikes deal with 24/7, promises to 'redefine' customer service originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nuance gobbles up Vlingo, yearns to transcribe its own announcement

Dante Cesa — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 07:44:00 EST

Apparently, if you can't (legally) beat them, you buy them. Such is the thinking over at Nuance, who has decided to acquire its competitor and former courtroom dance partner, Vlingo. Should make for some nice additions to the former's voice recognition tubes -- technology which powers everything from Apple's Siri, Dragon dictation and even various autos. No indications as to how many greenbacks exchanged hands, but the newlyweds were happy to boast their "complementary research and development efforts" will result in a company "stronger together than alone." We'll have to see about that. PR after the break.

Continue reading Nuance gobbles up Vlingo, yearns to transcribe its own announcement

Nuance gobbles up Vlingo, yearns to transcribe its own announcement originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 07:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New computer system can read your emotions, will probably be annoying about it (video)

Amar Toor — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:01:00 EST

It's bad enough listening to your therapist drone on about the hatred you harbor toward your father. Pretty soon, you may have to put up with a hyper-insightful computer, as well. That's what researchers from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid have begun developing, with a new system capable of reading human emotions. As explained in their study, published in the Journal on Advances in Signal Processing, the computer has been designed to intelligently engage with people, and to adjust its dialogue according to a user's emotional state. To gauge this, researchers looked at a total of 60 acoustic parameters, including the tenor of a user's voice, the speed at which one speaks, and the length of any pauses. They also implemented controls to account for any endogenous reactions (e.g., if a user gets frustrated with the computer's speech), and enabled the adaptable device to modify its speech accordingly, based on predictions of where the conversation may lead. In the end, they found that users responded more positively whenever the computer spoke in "objective terms" (i.e., with more succinct dialogue). The same could probably be said for most bloggers, as well. Teleport past the break for the full PR, along with a demo video (in Spanish).

Continue reading New computer system can read your emotions, will probably be annoying about it (video)

New computer system can read your emotions, will probably be annoying about it (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Raytheon shows off TransTalk speech translator for Android, hopes to find a home in the Army's app store

Donald Melanson — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 10:47:00 EST

We've already heard about some of the smartphone apps that may or may not eventually find their way into the Army's own app store, and Raytheon is now hoping that it'll be tapped it to provide a key one. As Wired's Danger Room reports, the company has developed a new version of its TransTalk app for Android phones, which is able to translate speech from English to Arabic, Dari and Pashto (and vice versa). Since it's designed specifically for the Army, the app is geared towards translating phrases commonly used by soldiers on patrol, and it's also able to display and store the conversation as text. Just don't count on it hitting the Android Market anytime soon -- while the app runs on off-the-shelf Android hardware (a Motorola Atrix, in this case), there's no plans for it to be made available to the general public.

Raytheon shows off TransTalk speech translator for Android, hopes to find a home in the Army's app store originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Oct 2011 10:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google expands Voice Actions across Europe, with multi-language support (video)

Amar Toor — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 05:05:00 EST

Android users across Europe are waking up to some bonnes nouvelles this morning, because Google has now expanded its Voice Actions service to France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. Beginning today, loquacious smartphone and tablet users will be able to place calls, send texts and conduct Google searches by speaking into their devices. All you have to do is press the microphone button on your home screen's Google search field and open the Voice Search app, or simply press the physical search button on your handset to bring up the "Speak Now" field. From there, you can begin chattering away in French, German, Italian, Spanish and ~~real~~ British English. Interested parties running Android 2.2 or above can get started by downloading the Voice Search app from the source link below, or by checking out Google's demo video, after the break.

Continue reading Google expands Voice Actions across Europe, with multi-language support (video)

Google expands Voice Actions across Europe, with multi-language support (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Sep 2011 05:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nuance Dragon Dictate 2.5 for Mac review

Darren Murph — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:01:00 EST

Voice recognition. Or, more specifically, speech recognition. It's one of those technological wonders that we all seem to take for granted, while simultaneously throwing laughter its way for not being nearly sophisticated enough. Anyone that's used an early generation Ford SYNC system -- or pretty much any vehicular voice command system -- knows exactly what we're getting at. While processing speeds and user interfaces have made great strides in the past handful of years, voice recognition has managed to continually disappoint. It's not that things aren't improving, it's just that they aren't improving at the same rate as the hardware and software surrounding them. Even today, most new automobiles have to be spoken to loudly, pointedly and directly, and even then it's a crapshoot as to whether or not your command will be recognized and acted upon.

For as much as we complain, we totally get it. Teaching a computer program how to recognize, understand and act upon the movement of human vocal chords is a Herculean task. Throw in nearly unlimited amounts of dialect and regional variation with even a single language, and it's a wonder that programs such as Nuance's Dragon Dictate even exist. Teaching a vehicle how to route calls, adjust volume and tweak a radio station is one thing, but having a program that turns actual speech into presentable documents requires a heightened level of accuracy. The newest build of Dragon Dictate for Mac (v2.5) allows users to seamlessly combine dictation with mouse and keyboard input in Microsoft Word 2011; it also gives yappers the ability to more finely control how Dragon formats text such as dates, times, numbers and addresses, while a free iOS app turns your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch into a wireless microphone. We recently pushed our preconceived notions about this stuff aside in order to spend a solid week relying on our voice instead of our fingertips -- read on to see how it turned on.

Gallery: Nuance Dragon Dictate 2.5 for Mac screenshots

Continue reading Nuance Dragon Dictate 2.5 for Mac review

Nuance Dragon Dictate 2.5 for Mac review originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New program makes it easier to turn your computer into a conversational chatterbox

Amar Toor — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 01:04:00 EST

We've already seen how awkward computers can be when they try to speak like humans, but researchers from North Carolina State and Georgia Tech have now developed a program that could make it easier to show them how it's done. Their approach, outlined in a recently published paper, would allow developers to create natural language generation (NLG) systems twice as fast as currently possible. NLG technology is used in a wide array of applications (including video games and customer service centers), but producing these systems has traditionally required developers to enter massive amounts of data, vocabulary and templates -- rules that computers use to develop coherent sentences. Lead author Karthik Narayan and his team, however, have created a program capable of learning how to use these templates on its own, thereby requiring developers to input only basic information about any given topic of conversation. As it learns how to speak, the software can also make automatic suggestions about which information should be added to its database, based on the conversation at hand. Narayan and his colleagues will present their study at this year's Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment conference in October, but you can dig through it for yourself, at the link below.

New program makes it easier to turn your computer into a conversational chatterbox originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Sep 2011 01:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When two chatbots have a conversation, everyone wins (video)

Amar Toor — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:08:00 EST

What did one chatbot say to the other chatbot? Quite a lot, actually -- but good luck making any sense out of it. That's what researchers from Cornell's Creative Machines Lab recently discovered, after pitting two bots against one another for a good ol' fashioned talk-off. It's all part of the lab's submission to this year's Loebner Prize Competition in Artificial Intelligence -- an event that awards $100,000 to the team whose computer programs can conduct the most human-like conversations. Unfortunately for Cornell's squad, their chatbots still have a long way to go before achieving conversational coherence, though they could easily get hired as anchors on most cable news networks. Throughout the course of their frenetic (and often snippy) discussion, one bot raised heady questions about God and existence, while the other boldly claimed to be a unicorn. Basically, they had the exact same conversation we used to have in our dorm rooms every night, at around 4 am. Watch it for yourself after the break. It's nothing short of sublime.

Continue reading When two chatbots have a conversation, everyone wins (video)

When two chatbots have a conversation, everyone wins (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Telex anti-censorship system promises to leap over firewalls without getting burned

Amar Toor — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 15:56:00 EST

Human rights activists and free speech advocates have every reason to worry about the future of an open and uncensored internet, but researchers from the University of Michigan and the University of Waterloo have come up with a new tool that may help put their fears to rest. Their system, called Telex, proposes to circumvent government censors by using some clever cryptographic techniques. Unlike similar schemes, which typically require users to deploy secret IP addresses and encryption keys, Telex would only ask that they download a piece of software. With the program onboard, users in firewalled countries would then be able to visit blacklisted sites by establishing a decoy connection to any unblocked address. The software would automatically recognize this connection as a Telex request and tag it with a secret code visible only to participating ISPs, which could then divert these requests to banned sites. By essentially creating a proxy server without an IP address, the concept could make verboten connections more difficult to trace, but it would still rely upon the cooperation of many ISPs stationed outside the country in question -- which could pose a significant obstacle to its realization. At this point, Telex is still in a proof-of-concept phase, but you can find out more in the full press release, after the break.

Continue reading Telex anti-censorship system promises to leap over firewalls without getting burned

Telex anti-censorship system promises to leap over firewalls without getting burned originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Aug 2011 15:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Leak: future iOS update to introduce Siri-based voice control

Sean Buckley — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 09:29:00 EST

When Apple snatched up Siri back in April, we had to wonder exactly what Cupertino was planning for the voice controlled virtual assistant. The answer, according to a new leak, is unsurprisingly obvious: iOS integration. A screenshot leaked to 9to5Mac flaunts an "Assistant" feature presumably built into a firmware update. To back up the screenshot, the aforesaid site dove into the iOS SDK and uncovered code describing Siri-like use of the iPhone's location, contact list, and song metadata. The code also outlined a "speaker" feature, opening a door for further Nuance integration in Apple products. Sound awesome? Sure it does, but keep it salty: 9to5's source says the assistant feature only just went into testing, and may not be ready in time for Apple's next big handset upgrade. Hit the source link to see the code and conjecture for yourself.

Leak: future iOS update to introduce Siri-based voice control originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jul 2011 09:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pioneer solicits Whodoo guinea pigs for speech-based Android assistant (video)

Zachary Lutz — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:15:00 EST

Ever wish you could have a personal attendant living inside your Android smartphone? You know... one you can boss around without incurring human rights or labor law violations? Apparently Pioneer shares your vision, because its voice-controlled social assistant named Whodoo is seemingly ready to "hop to" at a moment's notice -- willing to locate a restaurant and send it to friends, route the appropriate directions, and announce your intentions to Facebook or Twitter -- all based on your verbal commands (and ostensibly perfect for in-dash navigation). The company is seeking bossy applicants for its closed beta experiment, which involves completing a lengthy application, providing considerable feedback, and submitting audio samples that are gathered by Whodoo. Think you've got the chops? Just follow the source, where you're free to convince Pioneer of the same.

Continue reading Pioneer solicits Whodoo guinea pigs for speech-based Android assistant (video)

Pioneer solicits Whodoo guinea pigs for speech-based Android assistant (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chaufr lets you shout searches, yell URLs at Chrome

Terrence O'Brien — Tue, 31 May 2011 10:51:00 EST

Generally, shouting commands at the internet isn't going to get you very far but, if you're just yelling a few destinations and search terms, Chrome extension Chaufr can take you where you need to go. A previous add-on, Speechify, let you speak to fill input fields, but couldn't help you actually navigate the web. Chaufr, on the other hand, lets you simply say the magic word -- "Engadget" -- and it drops you right at our online doorstep. You can also use it to perform searches by saying Wikipedia, Google, Amazon, YouTube, or Yahoo followed by whatever it is you're looking for. It worked well enough in our brief hands-on, but we do have one nit to pick -- activating voice input requires you click on an icon in the tool bar then click on a microphone in the drop down menu. (Can't a brother get a keyboard shortcut?) You can try it out for yourself by clicking on the source link.

Chaufr lets you shout searches, yell URLs at Chrome originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 May 2011 10:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NTT DoCoMo exhibits on-the-fly speech translation, lets both parties just talk (video)

Sharif Sakr — Mon, 30 May 2011 22:19:00 EST

The race to smash linguistic barriers with simultaneous speech-to-speech translation is still wide open, and Japanese mobile operator NTT DoCoMo has just joined Google Translate and DARPA on the track. Whereas Google Translate's Conversation Mode was a turn-based affair when it was demoed back in January, requiring each party to pause awkwardly between exchanges, NTT DoCoMo's approach seems a lot more natural. It isn't based on new technology as such, but brings together a range of existing cloud-based services that recognize your words, translate them and then synthesize new speech in the other language -- hopefully all before your cross-cultural buddy gets bored and hangs up. As you'll see in the video after the break, this speed comes with the sacrifice of accuracy and it will need a lot of work after it's trialled later in the year. But hey, combine NTT DoCoMo's system with a Telenoid robot or kiss transmission device and you can always underline your meaning physically.

Continue reading NTT DoCoMo exhibits on-the-fly speech translation, lets both parties just talk (video)

NTT DoCoMo exhibits on-the-fly speech translation, lets both parties just talk (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 May 2011 22:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nuance voices found in OS X Lion, patent application suggests new iPhone speech / text capabilities

Donald Melanson — Mon, 16 May 2011 15:25:00 EST

Apple's certainly no stranger to speech recognition, but it looks like it may have enlisted a bit of outside help for the next version of OS X, otherwise known as Lion. As Netputing reports, some of the text-to-speech voice options available in the developer preview of Lion just so happen to match the voices available from Nuance -- which would seem to suggest a partnership or licensing agreement of some sort, as the voices themselves cost $45 apiece directly from Nuance. In somewhat related news, Apple has also recently filed a patent application that would bring some fairly extensive new speech recognition options to the iPhone -- if it ever actually moves beyond a patent application, that is. In short, it would let you either instantly have a phone call converted to text, or send some text and have it converted to voice on the other end -- which the application notes could come in handy both in noisy environments or in situations where you simply aren't able to talk. It would even apparently incorporate a noise meter that could automatically trigger various options when the ambient noise hits a certain level. Hit up the source link below for a closer look at how it would work.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Nuance voices found in OS X Lion, patent application suggests new iPhone speech / text capabilities originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 May 2011 15:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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External voice box prototype helps cancer, stroke sufferers regain speech

Brian Heater — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 16:04:00 EST

A team of UK scientists has developed a headset that can bring voices back to those who have lost their speech due to injury, cancer, stroke, and other maladies. They hope the prototype -- which uses magnets positioned in the user's mouth or tongue -- will take the place of low-tech solutions like throat valves, which have the tendency to get clogged. When he or she speaks, changes to the magnets' movements are detected by the device, which associates specific facial movements with corresponding words (the device currently has a vocabulary of about 50). The whole thing is still pretty clunky, as evidenced by the image at right, but the researchers are working on cramming the technology into a device roughly the size of a Bluetooth headset. They're also working on a way to implant magnets into the tongue of the wearer -- positioning the magnets in the wearer's mouth is proving to be one of the largest difficulties in implementing the technology.

External voice box prototype helps cancer, stroke sufferers regain speech originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Apr 2011 16:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The iPad is taking away American jobs, Jesse Jackson Junior's sanity (video)

Vlad Savov — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 05:01:00 EST

You know how ebooks are gradually taking over paper books as the most popular format for the consumption of the written word? Well, that's bad, mmkay? Publishers, librarians, and booksellers are losing their jobs and It's all entirely the iPad's fault. Forget the Kindle's millions of sales, the iPad did it. In a technophobic rant to rival all technophobic rants that have come before it, Illinois Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. accuses the iPad's popularity for the current level of unemployment in his nation, before proceeding to sculpt a rickety argument about how the First Amendment to the US Constitution is being exploited for the benefit of China. See his tirade on video after the break.

Continue reading The iPad is taking away American jobs, Jesse Jackson Junior's sanity (video)

The iPad is taking away American jobs, Jesse Jackson Junior's sanity (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 05:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Magnetic fields shut down speech, permit love songs (video)

Jesse Hicks — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 17:56:00 EST

You already know the strange powers of Stephin Merritt, but today we're talking about real magnetic fields. Powerful electromagnets, it turns out, can do remarkable things to the brain -- in this case, prevent a volunteer from reciting "Humpty Dumpty." The carefully directed magnets temporarily disrupt the brain's speech centers; the volunteer can still sing the rhyme using different areas of the brain, but simply can't overcome a series of stammers when trying to merely recite it. Of course, it's not all mad scientist applications: the UK team experimenting with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) thinks it can help us understand and treat migraines (as we've seen before with the Migraine Zapper), depression, and ADHD, among other ailments. But improving physical well-being doesn't make for nearly as entertaining media -- see the British inflict some involuntary quiet time in the video above.

Magnetic fields shut down speech, permit love songs (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Apr 2011 17:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MyVoice app for iOS and Android enables the mute to talk (video)

Jacob Schulman — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 17:59:00 EST

Talking is something most of us take for granted, but a new app called MyVoice -- currently available for iOS and coming soon to Android -- is attempting to give the ability back to those who aren't as fortunate. Developed by a group of University of Toronto students after being approached by a man who had a stroke, the location-based app allows users to "speak" pre-programmed text macros using text-to-speech. You can't add new phrases from within the app just yet, though for now there's an online portal that also allows relatives to configure strings and organize them into "places" for the ultimate user. We checked out the app and it seems to work as advertised -- there's a pretty extensive word pack that comes with it. You can score the free download at the more coverage link below, and we've got a video demo after the break.

Continue reading MyVoice app for iOS and Android enables the mute to talk (video)

MyVoice app for iOS and Android enables the mute to talk (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 17:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Obama says federal fleet to run on alternative fuels starting in 2015

Christopher Trout — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 11:01:00 EST

Chances are the Secret Service won't be ditching its signature black SUVs for these things anytime soon, but if all goes according to President Obama's new energy plan, even the Commander in Chief's armed guards will be rolling more eco-friendly in the next three years. In a speech given at Georgetown University Wednesday, the President said he expects all government agencies "to purchase 100 percent alternative fuel, hybrid, or electric vehicles by 2015." Now, that doesn't mean they'll have to get rid of pre-existing gas guzzlers, but any new purchases made after the cutoff date will be expected to comply -- the government's current fleet consists of 660,000 vehicles, 400,000 of which run on gasoline. Among other things, the President also called for increased infrastructure for the production of biofuels made from things like wood chips and switchgrass. So no, Cadillac One probably won't be replaced by a rechargeable egg car, but if Uncle Sam's taking suggestions, we'd be happy to make a recommendation -- Wheego Whip LiFe One does have a nice ring to it. Doesn't it?

Obama says federal fleet to run on alternative fuels starting in 2015 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Voice Search update helps you personalize your results, helps Google build another database to take over the world

Sean Hollister — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 23:01:00 EST

Google Voice Actions was the first step towards our Star Trek dreams of lassoing the world with naught but vocal cords, and today Google's taken a second hop towards that inevitable future by letting Android devices record our every utterance. Yes, if you've got a handset running Froyo or better, you can download an update for Google Voice Search right now, which will let your phone dynamically personalize its speech-to-text engine to better recognize your voice most every time you use it. Of course, by so doing you're giving Google permission to record your sentences -- anonymously, of course -- to use in future products, but whether that's a problem or just a happy coincidence depends on whether you take Google at its word. We hit the "yes" button, in case you're curious. Find it on Android Market, or just use the handy-dandy QR code below.

Continue reading Google Voice Search update helps you personalize your results, helps Google build another database to take over the world

Google Voice Search update helps you personalize your results, helps Google build another database to take over the world originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Dec 2010 23:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google acquires speech synthesis outfit Phonetic Arts, plans to use Jack Donaghy's voice for everything

Darren Murph — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 08:08:00 EST

Don't ever knock Google for not reinvesting a little of that cheddar it's stacking in Mountain View. Barely two months after pulling the trigger on BlindType, El Goog has now sunk an undisclosed amount of money into Phonetic Arts, described as a speech synthesis company based in Cambridge, England. Naturally, Google's been toiling around the clock in an effort to better its speech technologies, and it looks as if it could be cutting out quite a few months (or years) of work with this one purchase. Phonetic Arts was known for being on the "cutting edge of speech synthesis, delivering technology that generates natural computer speech from small samples of recorded voice," and we get the impression that the team will be given clearance badges to enter Google's London-based engineering facility shortly. The company's own Mike Cohen is hoping that this will help us "move a little faster towards that Star Trek future" -- frankly, we're hoping to have Jack Donaghy's voice become the de facto standard in under a year. We hear some dudes at 30 Rock are already toying with a prototype...

Google acquires speech synthesis outfit Phonetic Arts, plans to use Jack Donaghy's voice for everything originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Dec 2010 08:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lip reading mobiles are wunderbar, still at the prototype stage (video)

Vlad Savov — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 09:34:00 EST

We came across this lip reading prototype during our exploration of the CeBIT 2010 halls, and while we're a bit tardy in bringing it to your attention, there's a certain timeless quality to strapping your face with wired sensors that transcends conventional restrictions of timeliness. That's our story anyway. Devised by researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, it picks up the motion of speech (via electromyography) without requiring the sound, and then translates it into audible communication via a delightfully cold and robotic voice. The purposes of such a project are obvious -- from helping people who've lost their speech to making private telephone conversations actually private -- but the fun is in seeing someone use the thing in its current unrefined form. You'll be able to do that just past the break.

Continue reading Lip reading mobiles are wunderbar, still at the prototype stage (video)

Lip reading mobiles are wunderbar, still at the prototype stage (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 09:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mechanical piano hacked to talk, says nothing you'd be interested in

Joseph L. Flatley — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:07:00 EST

It's not exactly the Baroque Vocoder we were hoping for, but an Austrian composer has hacked a mechanical piano to recite text -- and recite text it does (even if you need subtitles and some prompting from the voice-over to understand what it's saying). The video itself is a little skint on technical details -- even if the "wow!" factor remains pretty consistent -- but apparently composer Peter Ablinger took a recording of a child reading the Proclamation of the European Environmental Criminal Court and converted the frequency spectrum to MIDI, which he was then able to play back using the chordophone pictured above. The gang at Hack A Day seems to think that the actual conversion was done in the Pure Data software package, and who are we to argue? We're just wondering how Black Moth Super Rainbow will ever fit this thing onto their tour van. See for yourself after the break.

[Via Hack A Day]

Continue reading Mechanical piano hacked to talk, says nothing you'd be interested in

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Mechanical piano hacked to talk, says nothing you'd be interested in originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DARPA working on "Silent Talk" telepathic communication for soldiers

Laura June — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:41:00 EST

We're no strangers to crazy DARPA projects around here, but this one especially strikes our fantastic fancy. The agency's researchers are currently undertaking a project -- called Silent Talk -- to "allow user-to-user communication on the battlefield without the use of vocalized speech through analysis of neural signals." That's right: they're talking about telepathy. Using an EEG to read brain waves, DARPA is going to attempt to analyze "pre-speech" thoughts, then transmit them to another person. They first plan to map people's EEG patterns to his / her individual words, then see if those patterns are common to all people. If they are, then the team will move on to developing a way to transmitting those patterns to another person. Dream big, that's what we always say!

Filed under: Science

DARPA working on "Silent Talk" telepathic communication for soldiers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 May 2009 17:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Anton the robotic tongue has saved you from electrode doom

Joshua Fruhlinger — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 06:20:00 EST

So we had a choice: either we let scientists at the University of Sheffield attach electrodes to our tongues, or they were going to go and build their own artificial mouth. Because we're not so into the whole electrode thing, they built "Anton," an animatronic tongue made of soft silicone to help them understand speech and subsequently improve speech-recognition software. This isn't the first of its kind, believe it or not -- there's much competition in the robotic mouth world. Because speech recognition systems aren't really benefiting from simply crowding them full of recorded speech, researchers want to better understand how the mouth produces sound and then create algorithms that can simply recognize speech patterns rather than try to match recordings to recordings. Sounds about right to us. Peep the creepy video after the break.

Continue reading Anton the robotic tongue has saved you from electrode doom

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Anton the robotic tongue has saved you from electrode doom originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Jul 2008 06:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Computer synthesiser enables Neanderthals to be heard

Darren Murph — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:03:00 EST

We know, it's a dream of yours to one day hear what Neanderthals from eons past sounded like when they conversed of DAPs possessing a few kilobytes of storage space and longed for computers that wouldn't take up entire caves. Okay, so maybe that's a stretch, but an anthropologist at Florida Atlantic University has seemingly figured out a way to actually recreate what ancient human speech (probably) sounded like. By utilizing reconstructions of a trio of Neanderthal vocal tracts, the crew was able to engineer what a spoken "E" would've sounded like via a computer synthesiser; in time, they're hoping to construct an entire Neanderthal sentence. Of course, not everyone's convinced that the discoveries made thus far are entirely accurate, but be sure to hit the read link a take a listen for yourself (hint: it's nothing like those Bud Light commercials).

[Via Slashdot, image courtesy of ABC]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Computer synthesiser enables Neanderthals to be heard originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Queen's Christmas Day speech broadcast in HD, on YouTube

Darren Murph — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 17:19:00 EST

Those excited to tune into Her Majesty's Christmas Day speech tomorrow will have yet another reason to watch. This year, her entire speech will be broadcast in HD, and for those not near a television, it'll also be available via YouTube. Tomorrow's production will mark the 50th anniversary of her traditional speech, and the new mediums are being used to satisfy her desire to make the address "more accessible to younger people and those in other countries." Interested? If so, you can tune in tomorrow at 3:00PM GMT.

Filed under: Misc, Internet

Queen's Christmas Day speech broadcast in HD, on YouTube originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Dec 2007 17:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Brain implant, software enables patients to think out loud

Darren Murph — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 09:51:00 EST

Truth be told, we've already seen instances where technology has enabled individuals to speak without speaking, but a brain implant placed into Eric Ramsey's head could certainly raise the bar in this field. The wireless electrode, which resides just six-millimeters below the surface of his brain, records pulses from 41 surrounding neurons involved in speech generation, and thanks to software developed by the associated team, those thoughts will hopefully be translated into words in the not-too-distant future. Currently, the group feels that they can accurately identify the word Ramsey is thinking up 80-percent of the time, and in the coming weeks, a computer will begin giving the patient real-time feedback so he can perfect the art of thinking out loud. 'Course, the team responsible isn't likely to be satisfied until an unadulterated conversation can take place, but it seems we're well on our way to seeing that come to fruition.

[Via BBC]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Brain implant, software enables patients to think out loud originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Nov 2007 09:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Scientists develop robotic mouth

Joshua Topolsky — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 03:38:00 EST

Apparently, not only will our robotic overlords be capable of crushing and / or dismembering us with their razor-like talons and arm-mounted machine guns, but they will also be able to perfectly mimic our oral movements when speaking. According to reports, researchers from the Tokyo University of Science and the Musashino Red Cross Hospital have created a robot capable of reproducing tongue and lower jaw movements associated with speech. The prototype -- a model of the mouth -- is able to perfectly copy the movements needed to produce vowel sounds. Using a silicon tongue, which is supported by three aluminum scaffolds and wired to eight pneumatic muscles, and a lower jaw which pivots on an axle, researchers are able to program the "mouth" with data based on magnetic resonance imaging. The next step, they say, is to create an artificial mouth which covers all movements (including consonants), allowing the bot to be used for speech therapy, foreign language training... or the basis for Terminator heads. [Warning: read link requires subscription]

Filed under: Robots

Scientists develop robotic mouth originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2007 03:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kansei makes a comeback with reactive facial expressions

Darren Murph — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 08:14:00 EST

Quite a lot has transpired in the android universe in the past two years, and it's fairly safe to say that Kansei has made a few solid strides during that time as well. A Japanese research team has purportedly crafted a working prototype that can "pull up to 36 different facial expressions based on a program which creates word associations from a self-updating online database of 500,000 keywords." According to a professor at Meiji University's School of Science and Technology, the idea of the project is to "create a flow of consciousness in robots so that they can make the relevant facial expressions," and the device relies on 19 movable parts and a silicon face mask in order to work its magic. Developers also noted that speech abilities should be added within a few years, and while we doubt you had to guess, it's quite likely that fully developed Kanseis will one day roam nursing homes as Japan seeks to care for its quickly growing geriatric set.

Filed under: Robots

Kansei makes a comeback with reactive facial expressions originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jun 2007 08:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Casio electronic dictionary / translator talks back, recognizes handwriting

Darren Murph — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 18:33:00 EST

While we English speaking folk may prefer our pocket translators to start in English and convert to some other foreign tongue, Casio's latest rendition helps those fluent in Japanese order tickets to the Space Needle, haggle at the Chevrolet dealership, and of course, pick up the correct ingredients for warm apple pie. Aimed at middle / high school students, the XD-SW4800 lineup of handheld dictionaries reportedly house the denotation and correct pronunciation for over "85,000 languages," which ironically enough, probably translates to "85,000 words" when not read through a broken translator. Nevertheless, these handy gizmos come in a variety of colors, and aside from supporting keyboard input, it can recognize stylus-written characters and toss back definitions while pronouncing the word to you via headphones. If America isn't your final destination, it also comes with five other major languages on CD that can be loaded on the 50MB of internal space or on your SD card if necessary, and while these things won't last forever, the approximate 60 to 130 hours of battery life should be more than enough to get you acclimated. So while you're waiting for your passport to show up, make sure you pick up Casio's latest travel necessity -- if you can manage the admittedly steep ¥47,250 ($394) to ¥52,500 ($437) price points, that is.

[Via Impress]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Handhelds

Casio electronic dictionary / translator talks back, recognizes handwriting originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Jan 2007 18:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft patents real-time audio obscenity mask

Ryan Block — Sun, 07 May 2006 03:12:00 EST

We can call it the real-time audio obscenity mask, or we can call it the autobleep, the cursekiller, whatever. The point is Microsoft's patented a unique system for bleeping out (actually just munging or silencing) combinations of phonemes it identifies as obscenities in audio streams without making use of time shifting, or otherwise requiring manual human intervention to make sure the FCC doesn't stick them with some harsh fines. Would this theoretical system be able tell the difference between the real f-bomb and funk, or even homonym swears like those synonyms for a donkey and female dog? You know the ones. Tell you what, let's put it to work on a satellite radio hip-hop station or an old George Carlin record and see how we do.

[Via Ars Technica]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Microsoft patents real-time audio obscenity mask originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 May 2006 03:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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